The United States has disclosed the share of nuclear reactor fuel supplied by Russia.

Russia retained its status as the largest supplier of fuel for nuclear reactors in the United States by the end of 2024, despite the current ban on the import of Russian enriched uranium, writesBLOOMBERG .

According to a report from the US Energy Information Administration, 15 million separative work units (SWUs; these are units used to measure isotope separation work) were purchased from eight suppliers in 2024 under enrichment services contracts. Foreign-origin SWUs included:

• from Russia - 20%;
• from France - 18%;
• from the Netherlands - 15%;
• from Great Britain  - 9%;
• from Germany - 7%.

By the end of 2024, US commercial companies held 167 million pounds (approximately 75,000 tonnes) of uranium (U₃O₈e), a 6% increase from the previous year. The report also states that the majority of uranium supplied to the US was of foreign origin: 36% came from Canada, 24% from Kazakhstan, 17% from Australia, 9% from Uzbekistan, and 4% each from Namibia and Russia.

The report's authors noted that 72% of the planned material was sent abroad for enrichment, while only 28% of the uranium was enriched domestically.

Bloomberg notes that Russian supplies to the United States continue despite a law banning the import of Russian reactor fuel. However, the agency notes that the ban includes an exception that allows the US Department of Energy to issue individual import permits until 2028 in the absence of alternative supply sources. Among the companies that have received permits are Constellation Energy Corp. and Centrus Energy Corp.

Last week, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright acknowledged that the US cannot reduce its purchases of enriched uranium from Russia because the country lacks sufficient nuclear fuel production capacity. Anatoly Antonov, who served as Russia's Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the US from 2017 to 2024, emphasized that by imposing a ban on Russian uranium imports, Washington is primarily harming its own economy.

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